McCormick Days 2026
SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
(BE)Coming What We Imagine
McCormick Days has always been about coming home—not simply to a place, but to a community, a shared history, and a calling that continues to unfold.
This year, alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends, and community partners are invited to gather October 15–16 for two days of worship, learning, celebration, reconnection, and courageous conversation.
Guided by the theme (Be)coming What We Imagine, McCormick Days 2026 asks us to move from possibility to practice, trusting in the God who is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
Across generations, McCormick alumni have carried the Seminary’s theological imagination into congregations, classrooms, hospitals, community organizations, creative spaces, boardrooms, and the public square. McCormick Days is an opportunity to honor that impact, strengthen the relationships that sustain it, and imagine together what faithful leadership can make possible next.
RETURNING TO WHAT GROUNDS US
McCormick Days will begin by reconnecting us with the faith, commitments, and community that continue to shape the Seminary.
During Worship and Reflection, led by the Rev. Dr. Reginald W. Williams Jr., the community will make space to gather, remember, and center itself for the experiences ahead.
Participants will also hear from McCormick President Dr. Maisha Handy and Board Chair Rev. Amy Pagliarella during the State of McCormick Address. Together, they will offer a look at McCormick today—its direction, priorities, and emerging possibilities—and invite the community into a shared vision for its future.
CELEBRATING THE LEADERSHIP OF OUR ALUMNI
McCormick’s story lives through the people who continue to embody its mission in the world.
During the Scholarship Lunch and Alumni Awards Presentation, the Seminary will honor the stories, leadership, and faithful service of its alumni, including two distinguished members of the McCormick community.
The 2026 Distinguished Alumnus Award will be presented to the Rev. Dr. Ozzie E. Smith Jr., whose decades of pastoral leadership, teaching, music, and community service have left an enduring imprint on the Church and the wider Chicago community.
The 2026 Rising Star Award will recognize Professor Adriana “Dri” Rivera, whose work in trauma-informed and healing-centered theological education is helping institutions imagine more responsive and life-giving approaches to teaching and formation.
RECONNECTING THROUGH BOOKS, IDEAS, AND CONVERSATION
Some of the most meaningful moments at McCormick Days happen between the scheduled events—in conversations with former classmates, encounters with new colleagues, and the rediscovery of ideas that continue to shape our work.
An alumni reception, open house, and book fair will create space for those connections while celebrating the scholarship and creative work of the McCormick community.
The gathering will feature McCormick alumnus Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks and his book, My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy. In this revelatory portrait, Jelks traces Hughes’s journey and examines how his experiences shaped his thinking about art, democracy, activism, communal dignity, and justice. The book also explores why Hughes’s work continues to speak so powerfully to the political anxieties and democratic challenges of our own time.
LEARNING FOR THE WORK LEADERSHIP REQUIRES
Ministry asks more of today’s leaders than theological knowledge alone. It also requires the ability to navigate change, guide organizations, manage competing priorities, cultivate healthy teams, and turn vision into action.
McCormick Days will mark the launch of McCormick Leads: Everything They Forgot to Teach You in Seminary, a new professional-development series for church leaders, nonprofit and community leaders, chaplains, public theologians, social entrepreneurs, changemakers, and others serving both within and beyond traditional ministry settings.
The inaugural session, Beyond the Binder, will explore how leaders can transform strategic plans from static documents into living strategies that clarify priorities, align people, guide decisions, direct limited resources, and help organizations respond faithfully to change.
Led by the Rev. Dr. Craig Howard and the Rev. Jesse Knox III, the session will combine experienced leadership with practical tools participants can carry directly into their ministries, organizations, and communities.
Because faithful leadership is not only about answering the call. It is also about being equipped for everything the call requires.
MAKING SPACE FOR SACRED RAGE
The first day will culminate with dinner and the 2026 Allen Lecture, featuring the Rev. Dr. Damien W. D. Davis.
Drawing from his book, Sacred Rage: Love That Didn’t Die With Them, Davis will trace a pastoral journey that began behind prison walls and continued at the bedsides of children’s hospitals. His lecture will explore grief, lament, anger, and love not as emotions to be managed or silenced, but as companions that must be honored.
Rooted in the Black prophetic tradition and shaped by more than a decade of clinical chaplaincy, Davis will offer a working pastoral theology for meeting people in their darkest and most confined moments—without rushing them toward premature comfort.
The annual Allen Lectures are made possible by an endowed fund from Winnetka Congregational Church and are designed to stimulate thoughtful dialogue around the strategies and practical applications of effective pastoral care.
BRINGING FAITH INTO THE PUBLIC SQUARE
On Day Two, October 16, McCormick Days will present: A Light in Today’s Shadows: Faith and the Future of American Democracy, a new leadership training program.
At a moment of profound division and uncertainty, this timely training will bring together faith leaders, scholars, public officials, community advocates, and McCormick alumni to consider a vital question: How can justice-minded people prepare, engage, and show up faithfully during the coming election cycle?
Through thoughtful conversation and diverse perspectives, participants will explore how faith communities can protect democratic values, strengthen civic participation, pursue justice, and become sources of courage and light in today’s darkness.
The gathering will feature voices from across the Church, academy, government, and community—including McCormick alumni and leaders whose work continues to demonstrate what faithful public engagement can look like.
YOUR STORY. OUR MISSION. A WORLD TRANSFORMED.
McCormick Days 2026 is more than a reunion and more than a series of events. It is an invitation to remember what has formed us, recognize what is already taking shape among us, and participate in what may yet become possible.
It is a time to worship and reflect. To honor faithful leadership. To exchange ideas and practical wisdom. To reconnect with old friends and encounter new collaborators. To ask difficult questions about grief, democracy, ministry, and the responsibilities of leadership.
Most importantly, it is a time to imagine together—and to begin becoming—the McCormick and the world we believe are possible.
Join us October 15–16 for McCormick Days 2026.